Not Me Monday: Bribing the Dog

I do not post "Not Me Mondays" very often, but I just had to today, because this weekend, I realized, I am going to be a terrible mother.

This past weekend, I was sick in bed from Friday night until Monday morning, and I was alone with the animals for pretty much the same timeline.  In fairness to my hubby, he was home for about 5 hours Saturday night-Sunday morning and he got home around 6:00pm Sunday evening.  I was not completely alone -- but for the majority of both days, I was alone with both animals.

I used to love to be sick with my kitty cat -- as my as anyone can enjoy being sick.  Lexie would curl up with me and not leave my side as long as I was ill.  Lloyd doesn't want to leave my side either, but he does not understand why I am home during the day with him, and yet I do not want to play.  How can I be home all day with him and yet I am not at his beckon call to go outside and play?

It was about mid-day on Saturday that I realized not only the secret to keeping Lloyd entertained while I am sick, but I also realized I am going to be a horrible mother.

A good mother would never bribe her child to leave her alone when she's sick, and I certainly would {not} give my dog 6 little rawhide treats in one day to try to get him to leave me alone.  Never would a mother who loves her dog do such a thing.

She also, would {not} let the puppy bring his stick inside.  Lloyd is never allowed to bring his stick inside, and he knows this.  When mom is sick, he of course would {never} be allowed to bring it inside.

A good mother would never bribe her dog to give her some peace while she's sick.  I certainly {never} would either.  What am I going to do when there are kids, not just animals in the picture?  I'm sure I would {never} invoke the same technique when I have kids... never.

Not Me Monday: Our Tree

I used to participate pretty regularly with a NOT ME MONDAY Blog Group.

I haven't participated in awhile, and it is not because I have stopped doing stupid things, it is because I stopped admitting them...  :-D

Today, I need to admit, what would never happen to me when buying and setting up our Christmas tree this year.

Chris and I bought a tree permit from the National Forest Service to chop down our own Christmas tree.  I would never insist that my hubby and I head out to chop down the tree Friday night, in the dark with our black puppy.  I would wait for the day light.  In fairness, Chris had to do grad school all weekend and so I wanted to get the tree Friday night so I wouldn't interrupt his studying all weekend.  But, no, I would not insist that we head into the forest of the Rockies to cut down a Christmas tree in the dark, cold night.

Furthermore, once we are "not" out in the dark trying to find a tree, we would not bring a chain saw that we had never actually started before.  So, when we chose a tree and were ready to cut it down, we did not find ourselves in the middle of the forest, in the dark, with a chain saw that would not turn on.

After we did not give up and leave the forest with a non-working chain saw, and without a Christmas tree, we would not just completely give up on the idea of the National Forest tree and buy a pre-cut tree from the boy scout stand near our house.

After we brought our boy scout tree home, and bought a tree stand for it, we set up the tree.  In setting up the tree, we would certainly not screw the tree into the stand, realize that the tree was too small for the stand, figure that the stand would work anyways and then act surprised when the tree fell over while I was adding lights to it.  That would never happen in our house!

Finally, we finagled the tree into a more secure hold in the tree stand and we were able to successfully hang lights, ornaments and tinsel without the tree falling over.  SUCCESS!